Congratulations to Rick Staton and Dave Warnick of CMIT Solutions for winning their franchise’s 2019 Marketing Excellence Award.

We were delighted to see our client honored for their commitment to marketing excellence. In our conversation with Rick Station, he talked about the significance of the award.

Top Out of 180 Franchises

We understand that CMIT Solutions has over 180 different franchises throughout North America. Many of them have been established for decades, whereas yours has only been in business for nine months. How did you earn the top marketing award?

Every year, the CMIT Solutions home office hosts a national conference. During that time, they present various awards, and one of them is for marketing excellence. The staff looks at all the franchises and asks, “Who is displaying the highest level of marketing skills? Who is worthy of this award and why?”

My success coach at CMIT nominated us. He said, “They market everywhere.” We have a marketing presence in multiple channels—creative brochures, print ads, social media, telemarketing, direct mail, and sophisticated email marketing campaigns. No other franchise is in that many channels. We’re coming at things from a new, disruptive perspective. The award validates the effort we’ve been putting into our marketing work.

Why Accent Interactive?

We’ve had the pleasure of creating several creative brochures and print ads for you. Why did you choose to partner with Accent Interactive?

Ken and I developed a relationship through our local networking group. In little Hunt Valley, Maryland, I found a world-class marketing team. Your work is recognized around the country. When I show it to the rest of my franchise during a convention, not one of the other 180 owners has any negative feedback. Their response is, “Stunning! Beautiful! Where can I get one of these?” Now at least 12 franchises across the US have continued to purchase marketing materials that Accent Interactive created.

Marketing ROI

Instead of relying only on the franchise’s ready-made marketing materials, you decided to invest in creating new ones. How has that helped your business?

It gives me a lot more confidence when I meet with a prospect. When I give them a brochure, they understand immediately what we are about. People remember the material, and they keep it. We haven’t produced stuff that people throw out. Some of my partners who refer customers are now happy to include my marketing material in with theirs. But before, that wouldn’t have happened.

Considering your deep commitment to marketing and the value it brings back to your business, what advice would you give to other business owners?

Marketing generates leads. And it’s up to us business owners to turn the leads into sales. The more leads and opportunities we have, the more sales we’re going to have. At CMIT we are investing across the board in marketing because we have a fundamental understanding that not all customers respond to the same kind of marketing. It’s important to be at the forefront of the customer’s mind and to be findable when a need arises.